The present invention relates to arrangements for transporting workpieces in general, and more particularly to an arrangement for removing workpieces from a cutting press.
There are already known various constructions of pressing machines, among them that which is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,784 and which will hereafter be referred to as a cutting press. This cutting press is arranged and equipped for machining plate-shaped workpieces, such as cutting, severing or otherwise working the same. This cutting press includes a main drive which drives at least one cutting tool by means of a transmission, and an additional severing arrangement is mounted on the same machine frame or body, being equipped with its own transmission, the transmissions of the cutting tool, on the one hand, and of the severing device, on the other hand, being selectively couplable to the main drive.
A cutting press of this construction can be considered to constitute a working or machining center in which plate-shaped and especially sheet metal workpieces are first treated by the cutting tool whereupon, in an immediate succession and in the very same machine, the additionally needed severing operations can be performed on the workpiece with the highest possible accuracy, while the respective workpiece clamping is maintained throughout this procedure. When such a cutting press is equipped with and/or cooperates with a numerically controlled or NC coordinate table, there is obtained a very highly automated working or machining of the workpiece in this working or machining center.
The present invention is concerned with a cutting press of this type and strives to improve the same.